Mr PALLAS (Tarneit) — I rise to speak on the Sentencing Amendment
(Emergency Workers) Bill 2014, and in so doing I indicate that Labor does not
oppose the bill.

One of the great challenges in a modern society is to ensure that
the legislation we bring to this place reflects the aspirations of our
communities and highlights those things that are most important to our
communities and also our values. While the bill purports to be about protecting
our protectors — those who perform the most vital of services to the
community, our emergency services workers — it falls far short of providing
the sort of justice those workers ultimately desire and deserve.

While we do not support the idea of mandatory sentencing, in our
view this bill still preserves a substantial amount of judicial discretion —
certainly a level sufficient to argue against a view that this is a mandatory
minimum sentencing regime.

The Police Association and the Ambulance Employees Australia of
Victoria have indicated their support for harsher penalties for offenders who
assault and injure emergency workers on duty. However, they have acknowledged
that these laws are unlikely to change or deter offender behaviour. This should
not be about shutting the gate after the horse has bolted, but rather it should
be about avoiding situations that put our emergency service workers at risk. In
many ways that is the nub of the divide that separates those on the government
side of this Parliament from those on the opposition side. The idea that you
should be tough on crime but not take action to avoid crime or the causes of
crime ultimately leads to a bidding war for higher and higher penalties. It
does not do much for those who are at risk, particularly if this legislation
fails in what should be its fundamental objective: changing behaviour and
deterring behaviour that puts the lives and welfare of emergency workers at
risk.

The people who have to deal
with these situations, our emergency service workers and their representatives,
should be seen as having the greatest capacity to form a view about them. As
has been put to me by representatives of the Police Association, these workers
have looked into the eyes of angry men and therefore they have the greatest
understanding of how they can be protected and how a regime can be put in place
that does not simply seek to be hard on crime but attempts to avoid the crime
in the first place through effective regimes that put our emergency service
workers in situations where they are not at risk.

In our view the bill continues to illustrate the failures of this
government to deal with an area that it is intent on claiming as its own —
what it describes as law and order but which should be known as community
protection. This is about protecting the people for whom there should be a
premium on protecting, because they perform work for us in our most necessitous
and dire circumstances.

What we have seen as a result of this government’s so-called
‘tough on crime’, law and order policies is an increase in the crime rate, a
crisis in our prisons and a continuing ignorance about how to deal with the
causes of crime. This bill is a further illustration of this government’s
myopia and its blinkered approach to dealing with crime. As well as cuts to
Victoria Police, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, the Country Fire Authority, the
Transport Accident Commission and the ambulance workers’ enterprise bargaining
agreement, there have been changes to compensation for mental injuries — —

  Ms Ryall — On a point of order, Acting Speaker, this is similar to the point of order I raised regarding the speech by the member for Eltham. The member for Tarneit is straying into areas that do not deal with the substance of the bill, which relates to
community correction orders, arson and crime related to emergency service
workers and the penalties associated with those crimes. I ask you to draw the
member back to the bill.

  The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Crisp) — Order! I do not uphold the point of order.  

  Mr PALLAS — The failed ‘tough on crime’ approach reveals a government that has failed to identify what should be the principal objective for preserving a sense of community purpose and safety. It is turning its back dramatically on emergency service workers by
simply saying to them, ‘Our job is to put in place provisions whereby we can
hold one group of people accountable for the circumstances that confront you in
your workplace’, and by not dealing with the overall issues that confront them
on a day-to-day basis. I put on the record this side of the chamber’s
appreciation for the great work done by our emergency service workers, whether
they be police officers, firefighters, ambulance officers or people who provide
a variety of emergency service treatment — —

  Mr Watt interjected.

  Mr PALLAS — The empty suit at the back, a man of sartorial elegance, sits back and badgers a substantial contribution to debate on this bill.

  The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr
Crisp) — Order! The member for Tarneit, without assistance from the member for
Burwood.

  Mr PALLAS — What a sartorial sycophant! He is a compassionless, empty suit, who sits in the back row demeaning a contribution which deals directly with the circumstances that
confront emergency service workers in this state. That really does spell out
the lack of compassion in this government’s approach to dealing with a very
serious issue. The government lacks seriousness, because it is all about
sloganeering. It is turning its back upon the underlying issues that confront
emergency service workers. If you want to see a more dramatic illustration of
this, listen to the jabbering that comes from the back benches of the
government.

During the course of my duties I have the great pleasure of
dealing with emergency service workers in Werribee. I would particularly like
to acknowledge the great work that they do. The Werribee Country Fire Authority
brigade, for example, is one of the most awarded emergency service
organisations in this country. It has won a number of awards for its capacity
to deal with — —

  Ms Victoria — A volunteer brigade.

  Mr PALLAS — It is a volunteer brigade that has consistently won recognition and reward for its efforts in accident rescue. However, the post-traumatic stress that these workers suffer as a result of their work cannot be dealt with through the
processes this government is putting in place to punish offenders.

This is about their livelihoods and their work, and they require
respect from this government.

Quite frankly if the government was at all interested in the
welfare and wellbeing of these workers, it would not strip over $113 million
from police while failing to resolve a pay dispute for ambulance officers and
while failing to reduce crime in our state. Crime across this state is up some
18 per cent since Labor left office.

  The ACTING SPEAKER (Mr Crisp) — Order! I ask the member to return to the bill for his last minute.

  Mr PALLAS — A rise in crime has a direct impact upon the welfare of emergency services workers. After all, this bill is about crimes against these workers. There could be nothing
more apposite in terms of this bill than the fact that this government has
presided over a rising crime rate and now seeks to resolve the problem by
saying it is going to get tougher on crime. It should address the causes of
crime and address the respect that the government should have for and should
show these workers, not just through slogans but through recognising that they
are entitled to that respect and the reward of having a community that
acknowledges the valuable contributions they make